Showcasing rare carpets

Carpets have adorned the living rooms of the affluent people over the centuries. Traded since civilization, these pieces of magnificence have retained its importance in household furniture. To grab the glimpse of rare tribal carpets from Persia (Iran), Anatolia (Turkey), the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Dagestan), Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan) and various Kurdish enclaves, one can visit the Main Gallery of India International Centre as an exhibition titled ‘Carpet stories’ will begin on December 18. 

Aptly titled Carpet Stories, this exhibition comes from the private collection of Danny Mehra, a passionate collector who prefers to see himself as an “accidental” collector and attributes his 20 plus years of madness to an “honest mid-life crisis.” 

 Explaining this, he said, “At the age at which most middle aged men buy a red sports car to make them feel younger, I started to buy old carpets as my cure for aging!”

Danny’s collection includes tribal carpets dating from the mid-19th to mid-20th century and includes works by many ethnic groups including the Qashqai, Luri, Bakhtiari, Khamseh, Afshar, Shahsavan, Turkic, Baluch, Turkmen, Christians and Kurds. 

What makes this collection so special is the fact that every tribal carpet has a visual story and is full of icons and expressions. 

Flowers, plants, birds, animals, human figures, mythical objects and Shamanistic symbols. The viewers will find many elements that they might not have seen ever before.

Dwelling on his obsessive attraction to rare tribal weavings, Danny states pithily, “The single common theme that runs through each carpet reflects my search for “perfect imperfection”; I look for visually striking features that set each of my carpets apart from those made for purely commercial purpose.”

Jasleen Dhamija, Indian textile art historian, crafts expert and former UN advisor, said, “Danny Mehra’s ‘Carpet Stories’ exhibition at the India International Centre is an excellent tribute to the rich weaving traditions of prominent tribal groups from various regions outside India.  Danny’s collection includes material that is rarely encountered in India and covers many exceptional examples of weavings from a century ago that are both culturally relevant and visually stunning!”

Lotika Varadarajan, well known author and ethno-historian, Tagore Fellow, National Museum, Delhi, said, “Danny Mehra’s collection of tribal weaves is a unique exhibition...it is based on textiles very different from the sophisticated floor covers woven in Iran and Kashmir for royalty and the nobility, which may be more familiar to an Indian audience.  The ethnic groups wove these generally for their own use rather than to serve the ends of commerce.”